Hey everyone.
Does anybody know whether the Hero screen mask (1978) had any visual ‘pull’ imperfections?
I read somewhere deep within the forum that some 75 Kirk pulls featured a little bump imperfection on the right hand corner of the mouth - you can see in some photos for sure.
On the same thread, somebody mentioned that this is most likely the same mould batch as the Hero mask as it too featured the same imperfections……
However, scanning every photo I can find, IMO the little bump by the mouth is nowhere to be seen on the Hero?!
That myth circulated for years. The “herpes bump”, as it was called for many years, is not on the hero. The main thing people point to when matching it is this:
But in all reality this mark is just a wrinkle in the corner of the mouth that is on the lifecast and then in turn on all the kirks:
All that said, Josh’s first Kirk is still one of my all time favorites. Something is so special about it!
In all actuality, DPS likely had several molds for the Kirk production and there is no way to tell which it came from. Hell, even masks that came from the same mold look totally different. The best 2 examples being:
The H1 reveal stunt and Darren’s Kirk coming from the same mold
And
Josh’s second Kirk and the Malone coming from the same mold.
I’ve verified both of the above through unique air bubbles present on each copy and they still look totally different from one another.
It’s a fascinating task to try and find a photo of an original 75K that looks like the perfect fit for the Hero origin…
Do you know the owner/collection name of the mask I attached in my OP? I’ve thought for a while now that it looks quite different to the 4 Kirks that you attached in your reply?!
The owner now is Stephen Flores. He released new photos when he went to sell it for $1,000,000 a bunch of years back, then recently uploaded a YouTube video of it.
I was gonna aim for 300 and I’d Chuck in a ToTS Tramer too.
On a serious note though - thanks for the help! I’m eager to get my hands on as many reference shots as I can to try my turn at digital sculpting… I’m not sure it’s a popular format but room for mistakes and perfections!
It is true that the hero does not have the pronounced bump. But with any sculpt there are going to multiple molds made. And Josh’s old Kirk, the one you posted, is the closest dp75kirk l have ever seen to the hero Kirk. lt seems pretty likely that Josh’s old Kirk came from the same mold as the hero Kirk, seemingly within only a few pulls to be so close. Nag made the MMK to mimic Josh’s Kirk and it does that well.
